435 part ii: meditations for more solemn feasts you are then indeed blessed? It is painful to mourn, but it is very sweet to be consoled, and to receive this consolation neither from a human being nor from the world, but from Heaven, from God. At the end of joy comes mourning, but at the end of mourning comes joy. After Holy Communion 1. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Mt 5:6). What does it mean to hunger and thirst for righteousness? Certainly [it means] nothing else but striving wholeheartedly and with all of one’s desire and will for the perfection of life. If servants upon receiving new clothing from their lords or the soldiers upon obtaining increased extraordinary wages from the commander pledge themselves to serve better, thus you, stripped of the old garb of wicked habits and adorned at Holy Communion with the fresh attire of virtues and blameless attitudes, should necessarily serve God more fervently than before and continue being more skillful, more diligent, and more laborious in the ranks of the Lord of hosts. Why do you seek rest? Idleness is the most poisonous plague of your way of life. In Christ’s wrestling school, they who exert themselves rest while they sweat. Follow your Commander who, exercising Himself in hardships since His youth, ended the course of His life amid the greatest hardship of the work of salvation. 2. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Mt 5:7). Consider that this world would have been annihilated long ago if clement mercy had not mitigated the austere severity of the divine justice. For when God sees that people have mercy on others, He alters severe decrees and disregards the sins of those who show mercy to their neighbors. He has mercy on those who are merciful, but indeed on account of the merciful, He also has mercy on others. And thus human mercy gains Divine Mercy for men, the severity of justice becomes milder, and punishment is transformed into pardon.
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